St. David’s HealthCare Earns Presidential Award

On November 12, 2014, St. David’s HealthCare was awarded the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award—the nation’s highest presidential honor for quality and excellence. Amanda McCrary, a Long Center Corporate Council Member and member of St. David’s, in addition to Earl Maxwell with the Foundation- who led our council in the past- have been strong supporters of the Long Center. The following letter was sent out by St. David’s CEO, C. David Huffstutler. Congratulations!

To Our Central Texas Community:

For the past few years, St. David’s HealthCare has been using the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award criteria to improve as an organization. This has been an extraordinary journey because we have all come together around a unified goal of becoming a better healthcare system. When we began, no one could have predicted how it would shape and improve our organization.

Today is the culmination of this ambitious journey, and it is my privilege to share some exciting news with you.

This morning, St. David’s HealthCare was named a 2014 recipient of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award—the nation’s highest presidential honor for quality and excellence—by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker.

Named after Malcolm Baldrige, the 26th U.S. Secretary of Commerce, the Baldrige Award was established by Congress in 1987, and is presented annually by the President of the United States and the U.S. Secretary of Commerce. This recognition is very significant for St. David’s HealthCare and for our patients. We are one of only four organizations in the nation to be named a 2014 Baldrige Award recipient, and we are the first ever healthcare system in the state of Texas to receive this prominent honor. (For more information on the award, please click here.)

We didn’t embark on this ambitious journey for the award’s sake. Instead, we knew that adhering to the incredibly rigorous standards for performance for which the Baldrige Award is known would help us become a better organization, and it would make a significant difference for the patients we care for and serve.

It’s humbling to be recognized as a role model for organizations across the country because we know that with this designation comes tremendous responsibility. Performance improvement never ends. We’ll continue to raise the bar and push ourselves to be the very best – for our patients, our physicians, our employees and for our community.

It seems appropriate to receive word of the Baldrige Award as we begin this season of Thanksgiving. I want to take this opportunity to thank you for giving us the privilege to care for and serve Central Texas. It is our great honor to do so.